TOKYO, April 16, 2026, 00:14 JST
Nintendo rolled out version 1.6.1 of its Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics app for Switch 2 on Wednesday, fixing a bug that caused Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness to shut down during play. The company’s Japanese support account said the update resolves the problem it first flagged on March 24.
That matters because Nintendo had warned players could lose progress saved during an affected session, a bigger problem than a routine crash for a role-playing game that only joined the service last month. The GameCube library is available only on Switch 2 through the paid Expansion Pack tier of Nintendo’s subscription service.
That makes the patch more than housekeeping. Nintendo is leaning on retro libraries to strengthen Switch 2’s paid offering as analysts debate the flow of big new exclusives; “Despite a lack of exclusive blockbusters, Switch 2 sold like hotcakes over the holidays,” Kantan Games founder Serkan Toto told Reuters in February. Sony’s PlayStation Plus markets a Classics Catalog, while Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass advertises a library of 500+ games and day-one releases. Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Nintendo’s support pages in the United States, Britain and Australia still described the fault as under investigation. They told players to use a Suspend Point, essentially a save state stored inside the app, because in-game saves from a crashed session could be lost.
The Japanese notice announcing version 1.6.1 was narrower. It said the update had started rolling out and that the Pokémon XD forced-close bug had been fixed, with no other changes listed in the support wording.
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness joined Nintendo’s GameCube lineup in mid-March, with Nintendo pitching it as part of a growing back catalog for Expansion Pack members. The company says GameCube titles are exclusive to Switch 2 and that the classic-game libraries will continue to grow over time.
But there is still a loose end. Because the regional support notices had not yet caught up with the Japanese fix message, it was not clear whether those pages were simply lagging or whether Nintendo was still watching for edge-case crashes after the patch.
Nintendo’s broader bet is easy to see. The Expansion Pack bundles GameCube, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and other retro libraries into a recurring subscription product, but Wednesday’s update was a reminder that keeping older games stable can matter as much as adding the next one. Nintendo says more classic titles will come, but its support pages give no timetable for the next GameCube drop.
